A number of units in the unit offer are supposed to be marked as indecisive by a mana token. I didn't see this explained explicitly in the expansion rulebook so I'm going to take a guess. Do the first units you deal go to the indecisive slots? So if a core tile was revealed, the first unit is gold and indecisive?

put a mana token above the first X unit slots next to the deck; those are the indecisive units and on what roll they leave the offer. so if there are 3 indecisive units, and a core tile is up, the first gold, first silver and second gold units would be indecisive. You can attempt to recruit them before they leave the offer.

Really I just want to confirm that the first unit is both gold and indecisive. The expansion rules say the "first units" are indecisive. The base game rules say you alternate between gold and grey. Nowhere does it say that you pull gold first but maybe that's been established somewhere else.

The base game rules say you alternate between gold and grey. Nowhere does it say that you pull gold first but maybe that's been established somewhere else.

I'm curious where you were reading in the book. On page 4, under "one round of the game", number 2c, it says pretty clearly:If at least one Core tile has been revealed, alternatedealing Elite (gold) and Regular Units. (Elite, Regular,Elite, etc.)

And the mana crystal (only one in my case, as I'm playing on the easiest level) remains in the first unit slot for the entire game, right?

Yes (I'm pretty sure that's true), but as normal you do not refresh the unit offer immediately. Note that you also have 1 more unit available for recruiting than normal, to help balance this.

I believe this mechanic is meant to simulate time pressure for snatching up a great unit...you have to do it a bit faster now if that unit is in the first X spaces. For a regular 2-player game, you have 2 gold & 2 silver units (after revealing a core/city tile), and let's face it -- at that point, the other player is more likely to grab a gold unit than a silver unit, too.

IMHO, this also means going from 1 indecisive to 2 indecisive is not as big a jump in difficulty as going from 2 to 3...although I'm just speaking off the cuff, not with experience to back it up.

Note that in the final scenario, Volkare does *not* get extra units for snatching in this way...but in the first scenario, Volkare does, so there is a small (but important) rules difference that is scenario-dependent.

So to clear things up for me here, if I'm playing at the lowest level for Indecisive units, I mark the first slot with any mana token color I choose.

Then when a wound card is revealed from Volkare's deck, I roll his mana die and that unit (a grey token) joins Volkare if the die matches the mana token placed on the slot?

You also remove the unit card, if there is still one in that slot.

I don't think this is quite right. If I'm reading the manual correctly, there *must* be a unit there for a grey token to be added to Volkare's army. Not also/if - no unit = no token. From page 15 of the manual (see emphasis below):

"When a Wound card is revealed...Roll Volkare’s mana die. If there is a slot marked by a crystal of the rolled color in the Unit offer, ***and if*** there is still a Unit in that slot, remove it from the game. These soldiers join Volkare and can be no longer recruited for your cause. There is no Unit in this slot until the next Round.

Now the important part...

"Whenever a Unit was removed from the offer in this way, add one gray enemy token to Volkare’s army."

So there must be a unit in the slot in order for Volkare to gain a grey token, no? An empty slot does not result in a grey token added, regardless of whether the correct color is rolled or not. The core rulebook also states that the Unit Offer is not replenished until the start of the Round, so it is possible that there will be vacant indecisive unit spaces in the Unit Offer.

In fact, this seems to be a very good idea for denying Volkare the chance to build his army. Recruiting indecisive units should be a priority.